We've heard of a number of coyote attacks on small dogs around the Stern Grove area, and nearby in the Park Merced apartment complex, a coyote just killed a cat that belonged to two friends there, despite their efforts to scare it off and save their pet.

As owner Randy Buckland tells ABC 7, he had let his cat Hunk out as he usually did, off the back patio, and he came out to see the cat trying to fight with a coyote on the attack.

His friend Mark Ward, with whom he shared Hunk, tried to chase down the coyote after he'd already picked up the cat in his jaws, but the animal ran off. He tells ABC 7's Wayne Freedman, through tears, "I ran after the coyote even knowing that I could be hurt at the same time, too, but I just wanted my animal back."

So far there have been 70 coyote sightings reported this year alone, some around Park Merced, and it means that no pets should be allowed out unattended.

The last significant attack we heard about came in December when a coyote snatched a dachshund that was walking off-leash. That dog ended up getting saved by the Rin Tin Tin hero maneuvers of another dog, who chased down the coyote and got it to drop the dachshund. Back in September 2015, a Maltese-poodle mix was killed by a coyote in the same area.